Business Etiquette Tips That Bring Business Profits

Many business owners are so focused on their profit margin, until they forget that one of the best ways to increase the bottom line is to simply "be nice". Even though, a lot of business is done through technology, etiquette face to face and online is very necessary. Because of the new way of doing business in the 21st century, knowing what is proper and acceptable in business is not always apparent. Of course, when in doubt, the key is to remember to say and do things that make others feel good about being in your space and about doing business with you. This will allow you to build relationships that will lead to referrals, repeat business and to long lasting business friendships. Below are some tips that will help:

1. Send written thank you notes. Don't let technology cause you to lose the personal touch. A handwritten note still conveys the very powerful message that you consider the person you are dealing with someone of value. There are times when sending a "thank you" by email is appropriate, for example if you have been communicating with the customer/client mostly by email, continue to do so; however, if the meeting involved a face to face meeting that warrants a thank you, take the time to write a note. People hold onto hand written notes much longer than they do an email. Even though an email can be saved, many people will read the thank you and discard the email. Sending a handwritten note, when so few are sent out today, will set you apart from your competition and it simply says you are a class act.

2. Return or respond to all phone calls. It is easy to ignore the phone calls of sales people or of a business person you do not want to talk; however, it is not prudent to do so. How you handle your daily phone calls says a lot about how your run your business, value your customers, and it gives a glimpse into how you feel about people in general. There will be phone calls that you will not want to address, but no one ever said that business was easy. Take the time to return all phone calls or have your assistant respond with respect for you. If you do not want what they are selling, thank them for the offer and respectfully decline. Depending on your product, you are sometimes ignoring a potential customer. If they are in sales, you may be ignoring someone who can connect you with a lot of people or send you the referrals you are looking for. Business is about building relationships, so keep in mind that the person's call you are ignoring, may be the one you want to talk to for a reason that could benefit your business and your customers.

3. Be interested in others. When meeting someone in business for the first time, do not pounce on them by immediately trying to sell your product. Yes, you may be in love with your product and it may be the best product invented since man discovered fire, but people do not care what you are selling, until you show that you are interested in them. Selling a product without getting to know the person you are trying to sell to, sends a clear message that you are only interested in making the sale and that you could care less about the person. Take a moment and get to know the person you are meeting for the first time. Learn about their needs and assess if you can really help them, then do some follow-up and share your solution to their need, which that solution will hopefully be your product.

4. Get to know names and people. When you encounter someone in business for the first time, get to know their name and be interested enough to remember their name. Even if you have to ask them to repeat the name for you, make it your business to remember the names of people that you meet. A great way to remember the name of someone you meet for the first time is to repeat their name many times throughout your conversation with them. That means you must be more interested in learning about them, as opposed to talking about yourself. Learning about others will make you more memorable and it is just more proper.

5. Pay attention to who is in front of you. If you have someone in your office, look at them and not your computer screen. It may be hard not to be distracted with emails popping in, text messages buzzing, and phone calls coming through, so the best remedy is to silence everything when you are in a meeting. If you thought enough of that person to schedule an appointment, then respect their time and yours.

6. Give out one business card. Always give out one business card and never offer a handful of your cards to someone, while asking them for referrals. Focus on making a lasting impression when you meet with them, professionally present one business card, and let them know that you appreciate referrals. They will get the message. Besides, if you make a lasting impression, they will be more than happy to send you business.

7. Do your best to follow through. Keeping your word in business can help you establish a reputation for having impeccable integrity. That will make people want to do business with you and strong integrity is one of the best branding concepts you can attach to your business. When promising to do something in business, do your best to follow through. If you RSV'P for an event, it is important to show up, or call the next day with an apology. If you promise to return a phone call, simply do it. If you create a bill or promise to do business with someone, follow through. Keep scheduled appointments or take the time to re-schedule as early as possible. Following through shows that you are the professional business person you claim to be.

8. Never send revealing mass emails. If you want to send the same email to several people in business, respect their email privacy by doing a "blind courtesy copy", that does not show everyone else's email address.

9. Do not text the special of the day. If someone has not requested your business texts or you have no relationship with the person, do not send a text message asking for business. Even if you have the best deal going, respect people's right to privacy and peace.

Treating others in business the way you want to be treated will bring you the success and profits you desire for your business. Putting people before profits will position you to be in business for years to come. Practicing proper business etiquette will help you build long term quality relationships and even when you are not expecting it, business will come your way.

What's Keeping You From Starting Your Business?

Starting a Business?

You've been thinking about starting your own business but you just can't seem to take the first step. It may be because you don't know or maybe you're afraid of something. It could be a little of both, fear and not knowing what to do. Starting a business isn't a one step process but it is easier than you think. You could already be doing it without really knowing it. You may have wanted to start a business making pies because your pies are the best. People around the office are always asking you to bake one for them because they just can't get enough. And you do, you bake several, collect your fees and continue working your 9-5. Knock, knock, you're already in business! Just concentrate on putting a plan in motion and take it one step at a time.

First though, I'd like to give you some friendly advice on starting your business:

Be prepared for rejection

You will hear a lot of no's during your starting phase. There will be so-called friends trying to bring you down because there is a pie factory right down the street. Do not, I repeat Do not let this discourage you. Acknowledge their comments, step around them, and continue. Just remember to say hi from the top!

If you fall, get right back up

There will be times where you will feel like the whole world is against you. Where you can't make a sale for the life of you but at this point it is KEY to continue plowing through. It only takes one small break to make it big. If you stop when you fall, you are limiting yourself to finding out what really lays ahead; what your potential truly is.

If someone is already doing it, do it better

Just because there's a pie factory down the street doesn't mean you can't start your own successful homemade pie business right next door; just do it better! Offer something unique, you're already baking homemade pies, I'm sure you can think of something.

Just do it!

Yes, Nike said it first but it applies to all! What's keeping you from just doing it? Fear... fear is our own worst enemy. No, let me clarify; WE are our own worst enemy. We allow fear to take over and paralyze us to the point of no return. Why? Because we are constantly second guessing ourselves. We sabotage our own beliefs and start thinking that we just can't do it. Then we stop. Put those thoughts out of your mind and focus on just doing it! Some of the wealthiest men and women out there live by this rule and so should you! Now, what's stopping you?

So now on to what you need to do to start a business:

Clearly define your idea or product

This is where a business plan comes. It doesn't have to be too elaborate or over 100 pages. It just has to be clear. Start off by defining your business name, objectives, and goals.

What will the name of your business be: Pie Bakers Inc.

What your business will do: Pie Bakers Inc. will bake homemade pies and desserts. We will only use organic ingredients to ensure the quality of our pies.

What will your business accomplish and when: Pie Bakers Inc. will produce 100 pies a week for the first year and increase by 5% each year.

How you will gain customers: Pie Bakers Inc. will go door to door seeking customers that do not have the time or energy to bake homemade pies.

Your business plan is a living document. You will need to change it as your business grows. This is where you will look to for help if you feel you're straying away from your original idea. It will also help you get the financial assistance you need from banking institutions because they will rely on your plan to help them decide how much to give you.

Business Structure

By the time you have your business plan ready, you should have figured out your business structure. This is very important because it will define how you pay taxes, employees, etc. The most common structure for a one owner business is a sole proprietor. But this may not be the best option. It is important to review the alternatives a sole proprietor has to legally register his/her business so that they are able to better deal with the liabilities any structure brings with it. Depending on what structure you choose, you will have to register your business with your state. Registering certain structures incurs fees. For example, in Texas corporations, limited liability partnerships, and limited liability corporations each pay a $300 fee to register; check your state's website for exact fees.

A sole proprietor only pays $14 to register with the county clerk's office. Once your business is registered you will have to apply for a sales tax permit with your state (check your state's website). This will help you avoid having to pay sales tax twice, once when you buy your materials and again when you pay your state taxes.

Once you've chosen your structure, it is important to request an Employer Tax Identification Number from the Internal Revenue Service, any business that sells a product or service must have one. The ETIN is used to identify your business by entities such as Federal, State, Local, and other agencies the regulate businesses. These numbers are free, you DO NOT need to pay to get one; simply request one by completing the online form on the irs.gov page. Certain types of businesses require licenses. For instance if you are opening up a restaurant you must have food handling permits, pre-opening inspections, and require all employees to obtain an individual license to handle food as well. Check your local and state licensing facilities for specific information pertaining to your business.

Accounting

I cannot emphasize this enough! Keeping track of your income and expenses as you incur them will save you many headaches come tax time. Depending on your business structure there are certain tax regulations you must abide by in addition to your government taxes. As you are trying to decide what type of business structure you will adopt, you should also be looking at the different tax obligations each structure demands. Keeping track of your business shouldn't be a tedious task. If you set it up correctly at the beginning and you take some time to enter all of your receipts and invoices; this should be a breeze. The most common accounting software is Quickbooks. By no means am I promoting any of the brands I write about. They are simply stated here because I have tried them and I feel they may help you better manage your business. With that said, Quickbooks is the most popular by far BUT it is not the only one. If you are starting a new business the first thing you DON'T want to do is spend hundreds of dollars on an accounting system that is somewhat difficult to learn (very good but difficult to learn); nor do you want to spend the time of getting to know it just enough to effectively manage your business. There are plenty of free, yes, free accounting software programs out there. I've tried a few but have come to the realization that, I don't want to spend a day and a half a) learning a new system and b) entering receipts and trying to figure out if they are right or wrong.

Just recently I found one that is very easy to understand, simple to use, and offers free support. Oh, and did I mention it was free? It is! When I signed up for this cloud (online - no need to download a program and accessible anywhere you are!) based program I thought I was going to review it then delete my account as I had done with so many others. I was surprised at how easy it was to handle so I stayed. It was extremely easy to add invoices, expenses, and even link my business bank account to it so I didn't have to spend too much time on reconciliation. Within 10 minutes I was able to enter all of my invoices and expenses and see just how much my business was really working! The best part is that it comes with the ability to send your invoices via e-mail AND the system tells you if the vendor actually saw your invoice or not! No more "I didn't get your invoice, can you send it again!" The program is called Wave Accounting and is super easy to use, check out their tutorials! Like Wave Accounting, there are plenty of free accounting programs out there that you can use to help you manage your business more effectively. This one just happens to be one I use and really like.

There are plenty more things to do when starting a business and it could seem like an impossible feat especially if you don't know where to turn for help but I am here to assure you; you CAN do it! Set your mind to and never be ashamed to ask for help (this applies to everything you do), never say or think you "can't" do it, and always follow your instincts. Don't let fear prevent you from becoming the entrepreneur you are meant to be!

If you have any questions about starting a business, feel free to drop me a line or two; I will be glad to share with you the knowledge I have of running several successful businesses.

Wellness Brings Sustainability to Business

I hear the word sustainable daily. I hear it in the food community. I hear it in the environmental community. I have heard it more and more in the business community. The reasons that sustainability is so important is something that crosses lines and has brought many groups together to focus on similar and combined efforts.

In other words, sustainability is important. The fact that so many of us hear about it, talk about and take action to improve it is proof that sustainability is something that we all care about. There are many ways to view sustainability, but there is no way to deny its importance.

Before we get too far down this road of philosophical discussion and comparisons between the various areas that sustainability comes into play, let's define it.

Sustainability is:

1. The capacity to endure

2. The long-term maintenance of responsibility

3. The responsible management of resources and resource use

4. Managing impact

These definitions are clearly different, but they all touch on similar things. They talk about capacity, management, maintenance, resources and impact. These five words are what I think of when I think about sustainability. They are all important and you can't succeed in any area without most if not all of these things. If even one is lacking, there will be severe consequences.

That is why sustainability is such a big topic in so many areas of our lives. If we don't practice it, we see big problems. If do practice it, we see success in the short term, but more importantly, we are setting ourselves up for long-term success.

So, how do we practice sustainability in business? It's simple. We focus specifically on each of the five areas and move forward from there. Let's take a look:

Capacity: How much do we have? How many customers can we serve? How many products can we make?

Management: This goes without saying. Is there a business on the planet that doesn't have a manager? Management also refers to other systems in the business. You have to manage in order to be successful.

Maintenance: There is a reason we have repair people, maintenance crews, facilities managers and others that are charged with maintaining parts of our business. If you don't maintain something, it won't last very long.

Resources: This is something that hits home with any business person. You need resources to get started. You provide resources to employees to serve clients. You provide resources to clients as the core of your business. Without resources, we are unable to function.

Impact: The impact that various factors have on your business are summed up by all of these things. When something happens, there is an impact. For every action, there is a reaction. It may be large, it may be small and it may be something that takes a while to realize. Regardless, there is an impact to everything we do in business.

That is sustainability in a nutshell. You have to mind the five factors in order to be sustainable in any area. Business is no different, as you can see. The absence of even one of these things could quickly bring a successful business to a screeching halt or prevent a new business from getting started at all.

Wellness is a part of business. With employee health, there is an impact on the business no matter how you look at it. If an employee group is healthy, they are more productive, it costs less to insure them and there are better results overall.

That is well-documented and hopefully only becoming more widely realized. On the flip-side, if employees are not healthy, there is also an impact. They are less productive, it costs more to insure them and results are not as good.

This is the definition of impact. The health of employees is affecting business everywhere right now, whether they are trying to make an impact or not. These companies often want to be sustainable. They often pride themselves on sustainable business practices and processes that help them remain efficient, cost-effective and profitable. All of these things lead to sustainability.

There is one problem. What if a business is not putting a priority on healthy employees? If your company is simply paying more for healthcare each year and ignoring employee health, the model you are in now is not sustainable. Not only is this model missing all five of our pillars, which will disqualify it from most of our definitions, but it is missing the core of sustainability: the ability to endure and long-term survival.

Healthcare as we know it is only getting more expensive. Businesses are finding that it is more and more difficult to provide for employees. As the costs rise, both employees and employers are feeling the pain. The problem with the current model is that no one is working for sustainability. Employees are not managing their resources or impact. Employers are not maintaining their workforces and the whole system is being operated above capacity... hence the continued cost increases.

Think of corporate wellness as a way to reintroduce sustainability into your business. The five pillars of sustainability fit into the wellness model like this:

Capacity: How much do we have? How much healthcare spending can we afford? How many issues can we deal with before making changes?

Management: Management refers to the systems in the business. Employee health is one of those systems. You have to manage it in order to be successful. If you don't, you just pay more and you know it is going to happen. That is non-management.

Maintenance: Just like business equipment and facilities, it is cheaper to keep something up than it is to repair after long periods of neglect or to replace outright. Maintaining employee health is the key to keep costs down. It's that simple.

Resources: You get what you put in. When you put nothing in, you get nothing in return. We see this in all areas of life and business. By dedicating resources to wellness, employee health improves.

Impact: The impact of health on business is incredible. It can severely handicap a company or it can lift it up and create future success. It all depends on how the other four areas are handled. No matter what, health impacts business.

How to Increase the Value of Your Business Before Selling

Whether you have an existing business or are considering starting a business, Michael Gerber in the book, The eMyth, suggests the only reason to build a business is to sell it.

Sadly, many business owners wait too long to prepare the business and they do not have enough time to maximize the sale price of the business; some never plan to sell and others simply get caught off guard by an unexpected illness or unfortunate event.

To help you not get caught off guard, it is best to start as soon as possible to prepare your business. It is never too early.

Here are a few tips to help you increase the value of your business over the next 24 to 36 months.

1. Clean up your books. With "good" accountants, you are likely writing off much more than just the required expenses of the business. The value of the business is directly linked to the profitability of the business. If you have minimized your profitability to decrease your tax burden, you will not maximize your selling price. To maximize your selling price, 3-4 years before you want to sell, start optimizing your business to maximize your profit. This alone can greatly increase the what your business will be worth to a buyer.

2. Note abnormalities that will be adjusted for. When a professional values your business, they will look to "normalize" your books, called "recasting." During this process anything that was not normal will be removed and this will increase the profitability of your business. For example, if you owned a restaurant and had to replace the hood system. This cost would be removed because it is not "normal" and does not happen every year. Therefore, removing it would increase the profitability of your business.

3. Replace yourself and family members with staff. If you have family members working in the business, start to replace each one with non-related staff. When a buyer looks at your business, the business has less value and is riskier if there will be a mass exodus at the time of the purchase. Slowly, replace each family member with a staff member that would stay with the business after the purchase.

4. Secure key employees. You will also want to create an employee retention program to secure employees that are critical to operations. A new owner will feel more comfortable knowing the critical employees are incentivized to stay with the business after the purchase and this will make the business less risky and more valuable.

5. Design your business on systems. Every major task in your business should be documented and systematized. Although your current staff knows exactly what to do, for the buyer, having systems in place assures him or her that the business will run without you. Start by documenting the critical functions and then over time document all functions of the business. This task is time-consuming, but will make a huge difference in the sales price of your business.

6. Have a growth plan. Now is the time to ramp up your marketing, sharpen your sales team and make sure you have a solid plan for growth. Buyers pay more for growing flourishing businesses than ones that are stagnant. Now is the time to make your business look the best it's ever looked.

Critical Things Small Business Owners Neglect

What are three critical things that small business owners and operators neglect?

The first is not having a strategic and business planwhere they define the ultimate objective of the enterprise. The Late Professor Randy Pausch commented in one of his last lectures "if there is no plan there is nothing to manage".

The second is neglecting the primary reporting systemof the business. I refer here to the accounting system. This is in fact the "sexiest" and most valuable system in a business. I can hear readers cry out - "Only an accountant could say that!!!", read on and you'll discover why.

The accounting system provides the information the manager needs to make informed decisions. Decisions made without current and accurate information have no substance and are at best guesses. Decisions made with the benefit of well prepared, timely and accurate reports have good ground to stand on and are more likely to be good decisions.

Thirdly owner operators neglect operating systemsin general. Activities in a poorly run business are done in an ad hoc fashion, on a needs basis, and are usually not carried out in any consistent fashion.

Why is it important to owner operators to recognise these shortcomings?

Businesses are almost always established with the intention to make money and build an asset. The return on investment and ultimate value of the business depends on these factors and how well they are conducted throughout the life of the business.

Businesses that have the highest returns and residual value are those that were built with the primary thought that the business will ultimately be sold. Businesses which are built this way have a strong planning culture, an efficient and effective reporting (feedback) system and are based on systems that interlock and deliver consistent results.

When small business operators seek professional help these are factors that are frequently low down the list of priorities of the owner/operator.

The operator is, as Michael Gerber so neatly describes in his book "The E-Myth Revisited", so busy doing his work that these very important areas are neglected.

Business planning is seen "as a waste of time and energy because nothing works out like the plan anyway', paraphrasing clients comments I have received over the years. They fail to realise that the business plan of today is a very flexible program that enables the manager to "change horses" if the conditions don't suit the "nag" he's on. The strategic plan will have "other horses in the stable" to bring out to meet the new conditions and enable him to reach the destination he planned at the start of the period.

Many business operators see the accounting system as being there to report income and expenses to taxing authorities and as having little internal value. The reporting system frequently is ignored until the pain from the threat of fines or worse hits the businessman for not meeting statutory obligations. Then it's a mad rush to catch up and management information is so out of date that it is virtually meaningless.

As for systems, these are usually carried in the heads of the various role players in the enterprise. They may be passed on from employee to employee and research has shown that this is not a reliable way to achieve consistent results in a business. Is it any wonder that no two items produced are the same, inconsistency is the order of the day, and that there are inexplicable cost blowouts or volatile expenses incurred to the untrained eye.

If the enterprise had a strategic and business plan in place there would be a clear vision of the expected result for the year; each step of the mission would be measurable and reported and there would be options available to adopt if circumstances changed.

If the accountancy system was operating well, decisions could be made with confidence that they are based on solid foundations. The reporting would show if the heat needed to be turned up or down and by how much.

The systems in place would ensure that every task was conducted the same way irrespective who was doing it. The systems would determine when activities occurred and how different systems interact with each other.

How do these critical factors become part of the enterprise?

This is the simple part.

The business owner makes a decision.

Resources are allocated in terms of

time and people -

to implement a business plan;

to design and build an accounting system that works for the business; and,

to document all the necessary tasks and procedures to be completed in the operations of the enterprise.

Will this happen overnight? No it will take time and commitment because these are the building blocks for a successful and valuable business. In many businesses this process, depending on resources, can take up to two to three years and then it's constant monitoring and updating.

What if these three critical factors become part of the enterprise?

The first thing the owner/operators might notice is the increased productivity and profitability and increased capacity the business has. These steps will unlock hidden capacity as they will also eliminate waste.